COVER beauty, he erected a pandal and planted a few vines. The vines yielded a bumper crop. Joseph began cultivating the fruit on his five and a half acres. He now runs a juice shop on the roadside near his farm and sells the fruit for `150 per kg. Village Crush is another small unit run by Renu Sebastian of Kanhirapally. She lost her husband in a road accident seven years ago. Jose Jacob, who owns a nursery, showed her how to make passion fruit squash and helped her set up a juice stall at his nursery. In 2013, Sebastian used to sell squash made from 800 kg of fruit. This year she has made 5.5 tonnes of passion fruit pulp and is confident of selling it to caterers and hotels. Then there is Elegant Enterprises, a fruit processing unit set up by K. Madhavan Kutty of Kodungallur in Thrissur district one and a half years ago. He sells passion fruit squash under the brand name of Naturaa. About a month ago, Jobin of Olivia Ventures at Malappuram started a fruit processing unit and is keen to produce passion fruit squash. Many more passion fruit squash units are in the pipeline. Mountain Fruits has stored five tonnes of pulp this season to produce squash. But they source fruits only from high mountain ranges. George Kurian says fruits from the mountains taste much better than those grown in the plains. kiosks aNd coLLEctiVEs Several kiosks in cities selling neera (an extract from toddy palm) have switched to selling passion fruit juice blended with neera honey. Kiosks were actually closing down since neera production has declined due to white fly and drought. Vinod Kumar, whose NGO, Maithri, helped develop neera, came up with this novel idea and it has caught on. While neera used to be sold at `40 per drink, neera honey mixed with passion fruit juice is sold for `20. An experiment in collective farming is also being tried out. Twelve members of the Mahathma Farmers Club, inspired by the government’s Nelliampathy farm, invested `3 lakh and leased an 80-cent orchard in Tritala in Palakkad district in February 2015. The landowner provides water and 10 percent of the profit is shared with him. The orchard yielded 1.5 tonnes of fruit the first year. The club earned `1.5 lakh. Says Harinarayanan P.K., associate coordinator, “Mohanan Vaidyar, a naturopathy and food adulteration consultant, advises eating one passion fruit every day as a preventive against cancer. Doctors in Thrissur recommend this to patients suffering from different ailments. Relatives of patients come from as far away as Ernakulam to buy our fruit.” Several households in Cherthala in Alleppey district have formed a passion fruit cluster called Harithasree. Families grow three to five vines on pandals. The fruits are pooled and each family is paid `40 per kg. The shop sells passion fruit juice for `40 per glass and fresh fruit at `70 per kg. If fruits are unsold, they are converted into pulp. Satheesh Babu, cluster leader, says they grow the fruit, sell it, process it and consume it especially during weddings and birthday celebrations. “Being able to sell without needing to transport it is a boon,” he says. A farmers’ group in Mannarcaud has planted passion fruit in many households with the slogan “a passion fruit vine in each household”. This trend has started in many parts of the state. Sensing the demand for passion fruit and lack of farming knowledge among enthusiasts, agencies have sprung up that can develop passion fruit orchards for people. Abdul Shukoor K.P. of Kondotti near Kozhikode has started a company called Organic Kerala which, he says, has developed about 10 acres of orchards in the state. The company also offers farmers a buy-back agreement since it is keen to process the fruit. R. Raveendran, an expert in organic terrace farming in Thiruvananthapuram, has hugely popularised passion fruit among households. He started growing passion fruit on half his terrace in 2008. “Till date, I haven’t sold a single fruit,” he says. “I gift it to people for propagation and to those who are ill. I also help people grow the fruit. Some of them are now earning extra income by selling the fruit for as much as `100-150 per kg.” marchiNG oN The passion fruit craze is now spreading from Kerala to neighbouring Tamil Nadu and, to a lesser extent, Karnataka. Yusuf, former farm superintendent at the government-owned Nelliampathy farm, says that people are so keen to plant sivakumar R. Raveendran, an expert in terrace farming, with his passion fruit Organic Kerala is a company that helps people to raise passion fruit orchards. It also offers farmers a buy-back agreement since it is keen to process the fruit. passion fruit that farm labourers from Nelliampathy were invited to Theni and the Cumbum belt of Tamil Nadu to raise orchards there. In Theni, R. Ramesh, an agro-input dealer, has started the Sree Vaigai Passion Fruit Association with his friends. The district has 5,000 acres of grape gardens. A few years ago, powdery mildew disease seriously affected grape cultivation. Farmers found themselves facing a deep crisis. Some of them wisely started using their pandals to grow bitter gourd and bottle gourd. But bad luck struck and the farmers didn’t get good returns. Competition was stiff due to a glut in the market. Ramesh’s group has now started popularising passion fruit farming on pandals. “We have already planted passion fruit on 10 acres in different areas. People are keen to extend it to another 50 to 100 acres,” says Ramesh, who is exploring marketing opportunities in Madurai and Chennai. “In February we are convening a big meeting of farmers, buyers and scientists to create more awareness of passion fruit cultivation and to bring relief to the much aggrieved farming community,” says Ramesh. Tamil Nadu’s climate, with less rainfall and more sunshine, is believed to increase passion fruit productivity. “We don’t have something like a peak fruit season here,” says Ramesh. “If you feed the vines, they go on fruiting. We use organic manure, bio growth regulators and stimulants to increase production.” The longer warmer climate implies that Tamil Nadu can sell passion fruit during the off-season for a higher price. Some farmers from Kerala are spreading passion fruit cultivation to Karnataka. Sebastian has a two-acre orchard at HD Kote near Mysore which has started fruiting. Joseph has planted vines on one acre taken on lease in Karkala for `1 lakh. These farmers are hoping to sell their fruit in Kerala since passion fruit is not very well-known in Karnataka. opportUNity aNd risk Passion fruit is a farmer-friendly crop. It has a ready domestic market and an export market. Farmers with little investment can set up a tiny processing unit. The vines yield fruit the first year itself. They don’t need replanting for about four years and replanting is not expensive. Though the commercial growers can’t wait for that to happen naturally, the fruits fall on their own. So farmers don’t need to hire labour for harvesting. The pulp is protected by a thick rind and its quality remains intact for 10 days. Therefore unsold stock can be processed. Transport is also available. Most maiden growers of passion fruit are keen to scale up production in the coming years. In Kerala, passion fruit starts flowering in April and May. The monsoon or post-monsoon season is considered the best time to begin planting. Manoj believes that in Kerala, September-October is the best time and in Tamil Nadu, 20 Civil SoCiety FeBRUARy 2018

COVER Kennedy Peter, a partner of Malnad Passion Fruit, with his company’s range of products Women extract passion fruit pulp at the state-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala February. “The growth is so vigorous in Tamil Nadu that vines start flowering in three to four months and fruits set by August,” he says. Regular pruning in winter when vines are dormant is critical because fruits emerge only from new shoots arising from old canes. But most newbie farmers don’t realise that a deadly disease caused by fusarium fungi can strike passion fruit. Some years ago this disease had even destroyed passion fruit vines in the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR). “It’s a complex disease,” says Dr B.N.S. Murthy, former head, Fruits Division, IIHR, and at present the Horticulture Commissioner of India. “A nematode attack on the roots makes it vulnerable to fusarium disease. A combination of both is dangerous. The yellow variety of passion fruit is a bit more tolerant to this than the purple one.” An effective remedy hasn’t been found. “Identifying resistant or tolerant cultivars and grafting, using its root stalk, would be the best solution,” says Murthy. Alternatively, a medicine could be researched to tackle the disease. Another critical area for research is identification of cultivars with higher pulp content. “At present juice recovery is one-third or, say, 35 percent. I have heard people say that some fruits yield 45 to 50 percent, so we need to increase pulp extraction to this level,” says Dr Joy. Besides, passion fruit still isn’t recognised as a crop by the Kerala government. “So bank loans aren’t available for commercial cultivation,” complains Girish P.K. “Seasonality is a bottleneck. We also need cold storage facilities.” Farming in clusters has its downsides as well. “An unhealthy competition has started,” says Girish. “Small growers who can’t always sell for a good price, settle for lower rates.” So price fluctuations are a headache for other farmers and processing units. Currently, India imports passion fruit pulp from Brazil. Large-scale industry is on the lookout for tonnes and tonnes of passion fruit, says Dr Joy. The area under passion fruit cultivation in Kerala is around 300 hectares and unlikely to cross 1,500 hectares since large expanses of land aren’t available. Passion fruit has 3 colours PASSION fruit’s colour is a barometer of its taste. The fruit comes in three colours — purple, yellow and maroon — and four varieties. Yellow passion fruit is the most common. It is more sour and aromatic than the other two. A purple passion fruit hybrid variety named Kaveri was launched by the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR) decades ago. The Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) has also released a purple variety called 134-P. Purple passion fruit is less sour and less aromatic. A slightly larger maroon and yellow Brazilian variety has also recently entered Kerala’s fields and homesteads. Just six to eight Brazilian passion fruits make up a kilo as compared to 10-15 yellow ones. Juice-makers prefer the yellow passion fruit but also mix purple with yellow. A sweet variety of passion fruit (Passiflora ligularis) is grown in Munnar in Kerala, Ooty and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. This variety grows only in the high ranges. It is less pulpy and sour. You can cut the fruit and eat the pulp with a spoon. Passion fruit seeds are also rich in polyphenolic compounds and deliver plenty of insoluble dietary fibre and magnesium. In Thailand, China and other countries, people eat the seeds with the fruit pulp. Kerala is belatedly realising the importance of passion fruit seeds. Malnad Passion Fruit Products and KAU’s Ambalavayal Regional Agriculture Station now include seeds in their squash bottles. Lulu’s supermarket in Ernakulam and Bengaluru’s malls are the main buyers of passion fruit. They stock the yellow and purple varieties and the sweet variety from Kodaikanal. “Demand is increasing because of the medicinal value attributed to passion fruit,” says Ummer Mustafa who buys fruits and vegetables for Lulu. Large-scale industry has some disadvantages as well. Manipur, the epicentre of passion fruit cultivation, suffered a major jolt when a private processing company that was buying the fruit suddenly closed down. “Passion fruit farming was going on nicely till 2008. We had about 320 farmers producing 400 tonnes,” recalls L.B. Sinate, former member, National Horticulture Board, who played a big role in forming the Manipur Passion Fruit Farmers Association. “Suddenly, the company, Exotic Juices, stopped buying passion fruit. Lots of fruit had to be destroyed. We are trying to revive it. Sixty to 70 farmers are now growing the fruit and selling it for `18 to 20 per kg.” If the present trend continues there will be a surfeit of passion fruit in Kerala, so new markets will have to be explored. Since the fruit is relatively unknown in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a campaign to popularise it is needed. Also, agriculture departments must set up cold storage facilities so that passion fruit can be sold off-season. The department should also spread knowledge about pulp preservation. The fall in rubber prices will motivate more farmers to switch to passion fruit. But most farmers just have basic knowledge of passion fruit cultivation. Agricultural scientists too haven’t specialised in it. New farmers say they would like a video, a handbook with agronomic information, as well as a directory on passion fruit. In Tamil Nadu, says Joseph, they were left mystified when their vines showed good vegetative growth but no flowering. Finally, they solved the puzzle. The problem was that large-scale pesticide use in the vicinity had killed all the pollinating insects, the honeybees. “We had to employ 80 labourers to manually pollinate the vines. We now rear bees in bee boxes to carry out pollination.” However, according to Joseph, Tamil Nadu’s dry weather, less rain and plentiful sunshine are better for the crop than Kerala’s conditions. Passion fruit still has many challenges to overcome. It’s time to convene a Passion Fruit Fest in Kerala along the lines of the Jackfruit Fest and Pineapple Fest to give this fruit its rightful place in the sun. • Civil SoCiety FeBRUARy 2018 21